The “Leather Journal” is a ministry of of Dr. Phil Newton. He pastors the South Woods Baptist Church in Memphis, TN. Pastor Phil’s sermons can be heard at http://archive.southwoodsbc.org/resources/sermons.php
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"The Great Discloser"
Scripture Portion:
“He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you” (John 16:14).
In the Upper Room, Jesus prepared for the cross (John 13–16). The cross, with its work of finality and completion, would not be finality for Jesus. He would be raised by the glory of the Father, just as He had told the disciples. Then Jesus would appear to the disciples for forty-days, after which, He would ascend to the Father’s right hand. He would reign as Lord. And every single person He saved through His bloody death, would be on His mind and in His intercessory prayers. While He was leaving the disciples, He was not leaving them alone. He had been their Teacher. They affectionately called Him, “Teacher.” But His leaving would not mean they were teacher-less. He would give them—and us—another Teacher.
God the Holy Spirit came to teach and guide us into all the truth. “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you” (vv. 13–14). The Holy Spirit came with the mission of taking the redeemed into the truth. That truth, particularly the gospel of Christ, the Spirit takes from the Son, our Savior, making it known to us. He is the great discloser.
How does the Spirit disclose to us? First, He inspires or breathes into the biblical authors the very words of God for His people. Using their personalities, experiences, and even research (e.g. Luke’s prologue), the Spirit works through human instruments to give us God’s Word. Second, we recognize that the Bible is a spiritual book. While it can be grammatically parsed and discussed by anyone, it cannot be truly understood apart from the Holy Spirit disclosing it to us. He opens our minds and understanding to grasp the Word as truth. He warms the heart to know that God is speaking in the Word. He, indeed, is the great discloser, who takes the truth of Christ and makes it clear to the cloudy hearts and dull minds of His people. He takes of Christ—all that He is, all that He has done, and all that He has promised—and discloses it to the redeemed.
Thank God for the Holy Spirit breathed Word given to the authors of both Testaments! Yet with the dullness of our hearts, the propensity for sin to crowd out any sensitivity to its message, the allurement and distraction of the world, and the undisciplined patterns of our lives, we desperately need the Holy Spirit to disclose the Word to us. That disclosure doesn’t come from within, as though we are given special revelation by the Spirit apart from the written words of Holy Scripture. Rather, He illumines and guides our thinking, study, meditation, and reflection to see what God has spoken, how He has revealed Himself, and what He has promised for all who believe. The apostles who received this encouraging word from Jesus were not more intelligent than the religious leaders who persecuted them after Jesus’ resurrection. But the latter had no disclosing and guiding by the Spirit. They read the Scriptures but didn’t understand that their whole focus pointed to Jesus Christ. The natural man cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness to them, Paul wrote, and they cannot understand them apart from the work of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 2:14). Unless the Discloser discloses, there’s no light.
Oh, Holy Spirit, open our eyes to behold wonderful things from the Word. Disclose Christ to us. Fill us with the joy of seeing Jesus Christ in His fullness throughout Your Word.
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